Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Environment (SAFE) Platform

Coffee Barometer 2018

Climate change puts coffee production under great strain, as coffee cultivation is threatened in regions that are most vulnerable to it. In countries as diverse as Brazil, Honduras, Uganda and Vietnam, areas currently suitable for the cash crop will decrease substantially by as early as 2020. This could potentially disrupt production and trade practices significantly.

The situation shown by the last Coffee Barometer, published in June 2014, was already alarming. Since then, the discussion about sustainability in the coffee sector has continued, but little has been done.

Coffee Barometer 2018 (PDF) explores the wide variety of environmental, social and economic issues threatening the future of coffee production, and pinpoints the gaping holes in our collective knowledge that urgently need to be tackled.

Here, we examine the recent series of acquisitions and mergers within the global coffee industry and track the main trends. We address the unequal power relations embedded in the global coffee value chain and the main factors creating stress for producers at farm level. In view of these challenges, we examine the sector’s strategies for change, as well as individual and collective efforts to transform coffee in a truly sustainable sector.